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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil
@elotroalex.bsky.social
4.3K followers 2.2K following 2.2K posts
faculty of collective wonders for Yale Spanish & Portuguese. materialist spelunker and otrAmerican. he/him/colibri.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Alex Gil
burrowingowl.bsky.social
Wendy Miller @burrowingowl.bsky.social · 4h
Moist owlettes. 🪶
Two burrowing owls in the rain. The one on the left is facing away from the camera and is looking back over his shoulder. The one on the right is in profile and is shaking water off his back.
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 1d
I like how the clear, unapolegetic support also comes with a sharp, short and sweet political analysis of the strongest coming all guns blazing for the weakest. Time NYC steps up with its own muscle.
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 1d
In awe. 💙💜🤍
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
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Reposted by Alex Gil
gtconway.bsky.social
George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 1d
@sanders.senate.gov: "No, Speaker Johnson, the #NoKings Rally on October 18th is not a 'hate America' rally. ... It’s a rally of millions of people who believe in American freedom and are not going to allow you and President Trump to turn us into an authoritarian country."
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 1d
RIP Nobel Peace prize. Hope you get to hangout with the Literature prize in prize heaven. You didn't have to go out like that.
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Reposted by Alex Gil
adamserwer.bsky.social
Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 2d
www.wweek.com/culture/2025...
Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest. There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day. What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid. It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.
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Reposted by Alex Gil
profkfh.bsky.social
ProfKFH @profkfh.bsky.social · 3d
Let’s Streisand effect this research!
irinaceric.bsky.social
irina cerić @irinaceric.bsky.social · 4d
This is a really clear yet meaty interview with @mark-bray.bsky.social about the actual tactics and history of antifa movements. Will be sharing with students! www.cbc.ca/radio/frontb...
What exactly is Antifa? | CBC Radio
In late September, Donald Trump designated Antifa a domestic terror organization. Today, we’re tracking the meaning and history of antifascist protest — from 1930’s Europe, to today — and asking: how ...
www.cbc.ca
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 3d
My heart is with Gaza today. Loving all these images of joy.
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 3d
Our colleague Mark Bray and his family were mysteriously stopped at the gate on their way to Spain. Let's keep an eye out on this flight out to safer lands today.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Rutgers University anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport
Professor Mark Bray was trying to leave US day after White House ‘antifa’ roundtable having receiving death threats
www.theguardian.com
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Reposted by Alex Gil
globaldhsymposium.bsky.social
Global DH Symposium @globaldhsymposium.bsky.social · 5d
⏰ ¡Quedan 8 días para enviar tu propuesta al #GlobalDHSymposium 2026! Hazlo antes del 15 de octubre a medianoche.

¿No sabes qué enviar? Consulta presentaciones anteriores en tinyurl.com/GlobalDHvideos o explora nuestras directrices en tinyurl.com/GlobalDHguias

¡Tu perspectiva importa!

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MSU Digital Humanities
Digital Humanities at Michigan State University (DH@MSU) facilitates collaborations among the digital centers, labs, programs, and projects across campus. Our community supports innovative research, s...
tinyurl.com
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Reposted by Alex Gil
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 4d
Holy crap that’s bad.
esqueer.net
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 4d
ICE is not only chasing down every random brown person in Chicago, they have a cameraman following them to film this for social media. Cruelty and inhumanity as content.
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 4d
And, 7) Transfusion: The myths must be related to the grandiosity of the nation. This includes a "comedy of health," the sense that finally the nation is healthy and redeemed. The state should be salvific and even miraculous.

Ring a bell?
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 4d
4) Affectivity: The appeal should not be to reason, but to emotion.

5) Occultation: The production and organization of propaganda should not be visible to the public.

6) Impression of unanimity: Propaganda must be shared by all groups. It must be contagious, peer-pressured.
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 4d
1) Simplification: Only one discourse, one truth, one hope, one image, one omnipresence.

2) Unity: Centralization and orchestration

3) Repetition: Winning propaganda should "anchor in the subconscious." Strong images, simple words, repeat, repeat, repeat.
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 4d
Gather around, friends, for a friendly 🧵.

Propaganda was not a widely used word before WW2. Sergeï Chakhotin was one of the first theoreticians of authoritarian propaganda in his 1939 book The Rape of the Masses, which was immediately banned by fascists.

Here are his 7 rules of propaganda:
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 4d
On the question of whether AI can do indexes. Here's the statement from the ASI.
nicolaking.bsky.social
Nicola King @nicolaking.bsky.social · 4d
Not yet - see the @asindexing.bsky.social statement asindexing.org/ai-news/stat... A human indexer would have caught that kind of error. An AI one might if it had been taught to do so.
Statement on AI and Book Indexing | American Society for Indexing
asindexing.org
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Reposted by Alex Gil
mckenziewark.bsky.social
Chica Marx @mckenziewark.bsky.social · 4d
And you can select your favorite independent (Hive Mind Books, for eg) as your "store" and Bookshop kicks them a lil something.
bookriot.bsky.social
bookriot.bsky.social @bookriot.bsky.social · 5d
Support independent bookstores and get free shipping by purchasing books through Bookshop.org during their "Anti-Prime Day" sale.

#booksky

bookriot.com/bookshop-org...
Bookshop.org Offers Free Shipping and 20% Off Banned Books for “Anti-Prime Day”
Support independent bookstores and get free shipping by purchasing books through Bookshop.org during their "Anti-Prime Day" sale.
bookriot.com
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Reposted by Alex Gil
maurasmale.bsky.social
Maura Smale 😷💉 @maurasmale.bsky.social · 4d
Academic librarians, come join us in the CUNYverse! We have a few jobs open in CUNY libraries:

cuny.jobs/queens-ny/in...

cuny.jobs/new-york-ny/...

cuny.jobs/new-york-ny/...

I’m not at these campuses but happy to answer questions!
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 5d
I'd save that $$ and just let it fall in one of those eastern european libraries that are available to the planet because of the internet... ahem.
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 5d
I would not be surprised if big academic publishers are investing money on this as we speak. Whether we can have open source versions of these things is another matter. It would be nice to have for those of us who work with presses that ask us to cover the cost of indexing.
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 5d
😂
elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 5d
Another question: what would it look like to write the unsummarizable book which would still read coherently? Faced with such, AI might have to simply list themes, but would be unable to sinthesize it, no? Right?!
A picture from Padme looking at Anakin Skywalker incredoulously.
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 5d
Maybe there's no escape from it. I certainly dream of a new prose... For now, all I can do is break my work into 100 arguments, instead of one. Might have to call it "notes toward" and pray for my audience's mercy.
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 5d
Abstracts and subject headings rule the day, and gen AI is more than happy to replate it at room temperature. Maybe we need analysis without overriding claims that could be captured in 2-word sound bites, or reduced to typecast. Is it a downstream effect of T&P? Does it really make better books?
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elotroalex.bsky.social
Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 5d
Barely changing the subject from the travesty of justice before us...

I might be wrong, but we have become too enamoured of summaries. Academic authors are known for summary brands, whole bodies of work reduced to main claims. AI serves that right back to us. 🧵
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